Never one to be labelled a slack man, this, Dave Grohl’s 90ith release of the last year, has at last the Foo Fighters name attributed to it, trading sticks for licks with his assorted yet settled backdrop band.
Following the M.O.R. disappointment of large swathes of One By One (and the near death of drummer Taylor Hawkins), the Foo's have returned to have another “crack” at the nut, so to speak, with this opening gambit tucking itself snugly between Muse and latter-day Smashing Pumpkins in the singles market.
Lyrically we’re not talking Nietzsche, or indeed even Corgan with such snippets as: “Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?” sounding more like they’ve been lifted from an ad in the graduate jobs section of The Guardian than an intimate late night discourse with his dear missus.
Best of You is reminiscent of the more mediocre tracks of There is Nothing Left to Lose, lacking the pop-verve of Learn to Fly and outright negative adrenalin of Stacked Actors, and showing a greater resemblance to M.I.A. and Headwires. Having said that, all the right noises are there for this to become a traditional Foo classic, lauded by the Foo Fighter Nisan Micra massive as pure gold and easily trotted out for worldwide arena tours. It goes for the full throttle in good time; it has the punches waiting in the wings for the Rope-a-dope jabs, and leaves on a quick staccato thrash.
The main problem with Best of You is that it is ridiculously obvious who has written it, recorded it, produced it and chosen it as the return to glory single to titillate the Edith’s of this world. To the sports casual listener, this could well be a stone-cold-classic to rival anything of the last two albums', but for me never threatening the legacy from their debut or ‘The Colour and the Shape’. It's swinging, its even a little tedious on repeat, but hey, at least it’s not Sting!
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6Chris Knight's Score